Why the Coracle Community at Corhaven?

Over many centuries, from the times of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, Saint Benedict, the Celts, Saint Francis, and Saint Ignatius through to today, followers of Jesus who have desired a deeper life with God and sought to offer their lives more fully to God have laid down a well-worn path of learned wisdom and practice. They forged ways of individually earnestly seeking God and being in community together while blessing others. Over the centuries certain patterns and common practices emerged, and the Christian monastic tradition now has clear common denominators that can be adapted for normal people living modern lives. Of those practices is the classic Benedictine rhythm of life of work, study, and prayer in community.

The  Coracle Community at Corhaven seeks to incarnate and benefit from this wisdom and tradition and make it accessible to normal people in the modern world with the resources and space that we have.  By this we hope that all who are able to participate will experience renewal and the richness of the life that God offers us.

Life in Community

People are invited to participate in the community for varying lengths of time from 3 days to several weeks to 6 months and longer. Participants commit to adhering to community expectations and to community rhythms (see below for sample schedule). There is some flexibility for those with other commitments (such as part-time remote work). How a community member can honor other commitments while still participating in the rhythms and serving the needs of the community and property is discerned in conversation.

The Work and Ministry of the Community

Corhaven is a special place—a 17-acre wooded property in the Shenandoah Valley, offering a network of trails, a creek with stations for prayer and reflection, fire pits, and a variety of other spaces to connect with God. You can read more about Corhaven’s story here.

Looking forward, the vision for Corhaven’s next season can be distilled into four words–community, hospitality, creation, and justice.

Community participants live, work, and serve at Corhaven in support of that vision through the following:

Care for People through Hospitality – Guests on Spiritual Retreat. Offering hospitality to guests coming to Corhaven for retreat takes a variety of forms, including: 

• Preparing the Woodshop and/or Retreat House for personal and group retreats
• Inviting guests to participate in the community’s rhythm of work, study, prayer
• Preparing and sharing meals together with those participating in the community
• Being a gracious, welcoming presence for guests however is needed

Care for Creation and Encounters with God – the Land at Corhaven. Caring for creation at Corhaven takes a variety of forms, including: 

• Tending the garden, including clearing weeds, laying organic fertilizer, turning compost, preparing garden beds, planting, harvesting, and other tasks, as appropriate to the seasons year-round
• Adding native plants to existing gardens to support pollinator populations
• Researching and implementing regenerative agriculture practices to improve soil health, increase biodiversity, and sequester carbon
• Other projects as they emerge

Care for Justice and Reconciliation – the Corhaven Graveyard. The Corhaven Graveyard is an historic burial ground for enslaved people that has been developed into a sacred site of remembrance and reconciliation. Pursuing justice and reconciliation at Corhaven takes a variety of forms with the graveyard, including: 

• Refreshing the information display with new signage and handouts
• Seasonally tending to the memorial garden
• Regularly maintaining the fences and benches in and around the graveyard
• Facilitating volunteer and group opportunities at the graveyard

In all things, we seek to remember the poor by donating a portion of its generated produce and continuing the practice of suggested donations from personal spiritual retreats. The Community welcomes and anticipates ideas on how to continue doing this.